Does the government have a right to regulate environmental matters? Yes. Here’s why: Let’s suppose I’m a werewolf. But I’m not some newby werewolf who’s still scared of self-mutilation or destroying my home or cat or wife. I’ve gotten used to my hairy sheep-eating ways and have figured out a systematically pleasing way to go about a somewhat normal life with the exception of these predictable lunar-driven tantrums. Let’s assume that I’ve even grown fond of my time alone in this altered state. I find the destruction of windmills and ogre huts to be quite pleasing—cathartic even. So let’s say there’s some guy or wizard or lake monster made from burning coal and toxic waste that, by the virtue of his lifestyle, is constantly producing thick and pungent smog which permeates the neighborhood. Having not cleverly inspected the surrounding residential area before building our homes, it just so happens that we all live in a cramped valley surrounded by towering cliffs and mountains and spikes and eternal flames which not only presents problems for our own transitory desires, but for the smogalicious soot-sauce as well.
I digress. Let’s suppose that this constant production of soot and dirt and socialism eventually, having no real where to go, blocks out the moon. Now I, being the old and cranky werewolf that I am, profoundly set in my ways and walks of werewolf life, feel particularly put off by the absence of this moon seeing as it prevents me from partaking in what has become a fundamental process of my life. Without access to the full moon, I have been stripped of my right as a werewolf to act and behave like the mythological beast that I am every 29.5 days. Government regulatory action is necessary in order to not only clean up the airspace around me (a claim that would currently fall under ‘public nuisance’), but to prevent similar situations from torturing other civilian werewolves around middle earth.
In this instance, preventative regulatory measures are the more important of the two options. While cleanup of a salient problem may provide a promisingly green image for the centerfold policy at hand, it will not necessarily deter others from producing similarly invasive clouds of anti-joy. It is important to note that, while the public nuisance issue may only have become salient after an individual’s experience with one or more effects of environmentally unfriendly energy or potion production, the living pleasure of this single person (or werewolf) is just a scaled down version of what could potentially be a universal problem. In order to combat this government intervention needs to concentrate on two fronts: education and strict regulation.
Of the latter, what is implemented today is usually watered down policy that, after running the lobbyist gamete, does not sincerely or seriously provide real changes within the industries it is attempting to regulate. Stricter measures that are truly enforced need to be legislated by congress. Obviously, there are many who are against this idea. Our current media-fed ideology is that there is no limit to what we can produce, consume, or fix. But, as Scott Sanders points out in A Conservationist Manifesto, that is clearly not the case. Using mere population growth as an example, an infinite trajectory is not a possible reality for humanity on this earth. Neither the resources nor the space are available. With government legislation, an attempt to wane this rampant growth (which is present in unsustainable economic practices as well as population) might seem less objectionable when presented with the eventual fail-safe that the Earth has in place: the end of humanity.
I am not usually one to advocate a doomsday scenario. I would much prefer not to delve in such pessimistic thoughts. However, as the science shows us again and again, unless significant and sustained changes are made in our lifestyles, our predicted future on Earth is a very bleak one indeed. While legislated regulatory actions could help jumpstart a greener environment for all, significant changes in individual choices and mentality are necessary in order for these practices and others like it to be sustained. As much of our deep values and belief systems are somewhat determined by our experiences as children (e.g. parent party affiliation), it would be ignorant of us to ignore such a critical period in which a generation of potential good stewards could be taught the natural beauty and importance of our environment.
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